IDF troops in the 'heart' of Gaza City

The Jewish Federations of North America announced its "March for Israel" will take place on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday.

"The March will be an opportunity for all Americans to come together in solidarity with the people of Israel, to demonstrate our commitment to America’s most important ally in the Middle East, to condemn the rising trend of antisemitic violence and harassment, and to demand that every hostage be immediately and safely released," the group said in a news release.

The Jewish Federations of North America aims to help Jewish communities at home and abroad.

Republican presidential candidates competed with one another to show the most support for Israel, draw the hardest line on Iran and speak out the most aggressively about antisemitism at tonight's GOP presidential debate while downplaying what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called “so-called Islamophobia.”

All five candidates at the NBC News debate in Miami said they fully supported Israel’s military campaign against Hamas and would not do anything to rein in its bombing of Gaza, which has led to a worsening humanitarian crisis for Palestinian civilians.

None of the candidates spoke about the plight of Palestinian civilians caught in the war between Israel and Hamas. Nor did any rule out putting U.S. troops on the ground in the Middle East if the conflict escalates. 

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The U.N. says no bakeries were active yesterday in the north of Gaza because they are without fuel, water and wheat flour and have been damaged. U.N. partners have been unable to deliver assistance in the north for the past week.

The U.N. also said the 81 aid trucks that entered Gaza yesterday, adding to a total of 650 trucks since Oct. 21, are only a small fraction of what the civilian population needs.

"The drinking water being brought in serves only 4% of Gaza’s residents, and there is still no delivery of desperately needed fuel," said Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the secretary-general.

At the end of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Quds force of the Iranian armed forces built up Shia proxies in the region. Their goal was to eject U.S. troops, liberate Jerusalem and cause harm to Israel.

One of those proxies, Hezbollah, became the model for the militias growing in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, all with unwavering loyalty to the Islamic Republic.

Iran started to fund and train Hamas, accelerating the support once Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Although Hamas, a Sunni organization, was not ideologically aligned with the Shiite leaders of Iran, it tactically ignored the differences and focused on its shared goal of expelling U.S. troops and destroying Israel.

New York City police recorded 69 anti-Jewish bias incidents in October, compared to 22 during the same period last year — an increase of 214% — according to statistics released today.

The spike in anti-Jewish incidents helped drive up the total number of bias incidents investigated by the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force in October, with 101 incidents reported to authorities. The number was 45 in October 2022.

New York City police also logged eight anti-Muslim bias incidents in October; none were reported during the same period last year, according to the department statistics.

A group of senators who recently traveled to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden tonight, according to three sources familiar with the planning.

The trip by the congressional delegation was led by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. Those invited to the White House include Graham and Cardin, as well as Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Katie Britt, R-Ala.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; and John Thune, R-S.D.

It’s unclear whether all will attend the meeting with Biden, first reported by Punchbowl News, or whether they will speak to reporters afterward.

The Nasser medical complex in Gaza City was struck Sunday, the Gaza Ministry of Health said, killing eight people, some of whom were at a pediatric hospital. Pictures provided by the ministry showed holes in the walls of buildings and equipment destroyed or covered in dust.

NBC News has not independently verified the incident or the deaths.

Many people have turned to hospitals for shelter amid Israel's aerial bombardment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at a meeting with members of his war Cabinet: "There will be no cease-fire without the release of our hostages. Everything else is false."

Meeting with local leaders from the West Bank, Netanyahu outlined three objectives for the IDF: stepping up counterterrorism, preventing the opening of a second front in the West Bank, and stopping extremist Israeli settlers from stirring up violence.

The Biden administration has pressed Netanyahu on reports of Palestinians killed by settlers in the West Bank. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN, "Prime Minister Netanyahu does have a responsibility to rein in the extremist settlers on the West Bank who are, as President Biden put it a few days ago, pouring fuel on the fire."

Netanyahu acknowledged that "there is a tiny handful of people that do not represent this public and that take the law into their own hands. We are not prepared to tolerate this. We are not prepared to accept this. We will take all action against them."

Abu Shadi was famous for selling the sweet pastry kunafa and other assorted desserts in Gaza City. His wife, Rwaida, assisted with preparing it at home for his namesake shop.

Most remarkable was his choice to sell the dessert for one shekel, a little over 25 U.S. cents, even though it is typically sold for much more. This inspired the nickname “the poor’s kunafa.”

Abu Shadi, also known as Masoud al-Qtati, his wife, their children and grandchildren are among those killed in Gaza, according to his relative Abdalhadi Alijla.

Alijla, 39, said by phone from Stockholm that he first learned about their deaths from his brother in Gaza.

“We do not know exactly when they were killed. There were no communications and we got info days after. They were under rubble and still,” Alijla told NBC News.

In a past interview, Abu Shadi spoke about how he educated all of his children, a teacher and an engineer among them, and shared why he sold his pastry at a low price. “I don’t want to go high. I don’t wish to ride jeeps or airplanes or anything,” he said, adding, “Praise be to Allah. We are living, and everyone is living.”

Alijla remembered Abu Shadi’s laughter surrounded by family when he last saw him over a decade ago. Along with his belief that “everybody has a right to eat,” Alijla said he was known for helping in other ways.

“He used to have a car and he used to take everyone in the car. He was the taxi driver for everybody,” he said.